Sunroof (Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones) have shared a new track, “Brotherly”, from their forthcoming album, “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3”, set for release on vinyl, CD and digitally via the Parallel Series of Mute on 29 November 2024.

“Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3” is a collection of nine improvised tracks, recorded using the duo’s Eurorack modular systems, and builds upon the self-imposed parameters laid out on their 2021 debut. With nothing pre-planned or rehearsed, each of the nine tracks were recorded using four channels (two each) with no overdubs. Explaining that “Our practice is more abstract than thematic. Every time we meet, we attempt a fresh start” the Miller and Jones arrived to each recording session with the spirit, energy and discipline of improvisation and recorded the tracks as live performances, with very little post-production work done once the tracks are recorded.

One exception is on “Ensnare”. The original, where glassy percussion works alongside submerged rhythmic beats, has been given two separate remixes by Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones.

About Sunroof

Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones have been collaborating for four decades. Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones’ collaboration began in 1982 when Miller asked Jones to work with him on what became Depeche Mode’s “Construction Time Again”. After Depeche Mode had gone home for the day, the two would stay on to work on their own sessions. By the mid-nineties Sunroof had become a remix project, reworking the likes of Can, MGMT, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler and Goldfrapp, amongst others.

In 2019, Miller and Jones were heading to a György Ligeti concert at the Barbican and beforehand the pair spent a couple of hours improvising with modular systems. Unusually, this time they decided to record the session and over a pre-concert meal, Gareth asked, “Are we actually going to make a record together before we die?”

The resulting album, “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1” (2021) was followed by “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 2” (2023), and since 2021, Sunroof have been performing select live shows allowing their live performance to feed back into their recordings. Some of these recordings were released last year as a Bandcamp exclusive, “Electronic Music Improvisations Live in London and Frankfurt“.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Marta Ruly) Sunroof (Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones) have announced details of a new album, “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3”, set for release on vinyl, CD and digitally via the Parallel Series of Mute on 29 November 2024.

“Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3” holds nine improvised tracks, recorded using the duo’s Eurorack modular systems, and builds upon the self-imposed parameters laid out on their 2021 debut. With nothing pre-planned or rehearsed, each of the nine tracks were recorded using four channels (two each) with no overdubs.

Note that “Splendid” was recorded using the original 4-track TEAC that Miller picked up second hand in the late 70s and used to record The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette” 7”.

Out now are two remixes of the track “Ensnare” by Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones. You can check out the original and the two remixes below.

This is the original version of “Ensnare”.

This is the Daniel Miller remix of “Ensnare”.

And here is the ElectroGenetic remix by Gareth Jones of “Ensnare”.

Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones have been collaborating for four decades. Their collaboration began in 1982 when Miller asked Jones to work with him on what became Depeche Mode’s “Construction Time Again”. After Depeche Mode had gone home for the day, the two would stay on to work on their own sessions, a practise that continues to this day. By the mid-nineties Sunroof had become a remix project, reworking the likes of Can, MGMT, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler and Goldfrapp, amongst others, and their first recordings appeared on a compilation paying tribute to Neu!

Sunroof album discography

• Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1 (2021)
• Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 2 (2023)
• Electronic Music Improvisations Live in London and Frankfurt (2023)
• Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3 (2024)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(By our UK correspondent Simon Helm of Cold War Nightlife) A few days ago we posted a review of the first solo concert of Vince Clarke at the LSESU in London, with Sunroof (comprising Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones), and today we present you a review of the additional Q&A session featuring Daniel Miller which took place at Rough Trade East on Sunday, November 19th.

Vince Clarke needs no introduction, so Daniel Miller didn’t give him one. The mastermind behind Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly, and Erasure, Clarke was in London to perform his solo album, Songs of Silence. A Q&A session at Rough Trade East allowed the Mute label boss to put some questions to Clarke and talk about their shared history.

Update: Mute in the meantime posted a video of the Q&A.

When Vince Clarke met Daniel Miller

The first time Clarke and Miller met was a bit of a disaster. Dressed up in futurist clothes, Clarke had travelled from Basildon with Dave Gahan to pitch Depeche Mode’s demo tape to London-based labels. When they tried Rough Trade, the counter staff pointed them at Miller, who was in the back preparing the artwork for a Fad Gadget record. When the Mute man emerged, he took one look at the Mode boys and kept walking. 

Miller chuckles at the lost opportunity, which he recovered from when Depeche Mode supported Fad Gadget at the Bridgehouse in Canning Town. He notes a controversy that has arisen because Stevo, the notorious Soft Cell manager and Some Bizarre label boss, has claimed that he “let” Miller “have” Depeche Mode for Mute. Rubbish. Depeche Mode did what they wanted – and, as Clarke confirms, that was to work with the genius behind The Normal, Silicon Teens, and the sound of Fad Gadget.

The lockdown stopped Erasure from working together

On to the new album. Clarke explains that lockdown stopped Erasure from working together. Inspired by repeated viewings of Bladerunner 2049, he decided to make the soundtrack for a sequel in his basement studio using modular kit. Drones provided the fluidity, while additional elements were layered on top. “It was never intended as a record,” Clarke said. “It  was really just for me to learn to use the synthesizer.”

When Miller asked Clarke what he was up to, some tracks were passed across, and Miller suggested they become an album. “I was in total shock, because it wasn’t what I intended,” Clarke told the audience.

The only track with lyrics used a recording of a traditional miner’s union song, which Clarke had struggled to set to music previously. Miller explained that it proved impossible to track down the rights holder for the vocals – drawing a laugh when he explained that Mute would “Take care of them.”

New Erasure album in the making

Clarke revealed that there is a new Erasure album planned for release next year, but he has not played the music to Andy Bell, yet. “We never write remotely. It just doesn’t work for us. We have to be in the same room, at the same time, to make a complete song.”

Miller let on that there is more coming from the Erasure camp. “Andy [Bell] is also working on a solo album at the moment.” No word whether it will also feature Eurorack modules or found sound, but it will undoubtedly come with its own stories.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Interview by János Janurik) Vince Clarke just released his first solo album “Songs Of Silence” in late autumn 2023. The fact that he has now recorded his first solo album after more than forty years in the pop business was long overdue. Our editor Janos Janurik contacted Vince Clarke and his partner in crime, Reed Hays, regarding this solo debut that opens up new listening perspectives into Vince Clarke’s previously unknown parallel universe, and a special concert in London.

Although the ingenious composer and sound wizard had several side projects alongside his main band Erasure – just think of the countless remixes, the collaborations with Martyn Ware, Paul Hartnoll and Martin Gore, and his label boss activities at Very Records, or the almost unknown album of instrumental compositions called “Deeptronica” – this is still the first time that he has released an LP under his own name. And on the parent label Mute Records. A feast for fans of electronic music!

Even the first appetiser was a shock for some fans: Vince ventured to the dark side, his solo track “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” sounding darker and sadder than ever before. The accompanying music video, shot in black and white, only reinforced the gloomy mood of the first pre-release track. This was anything but the dynamic electro-pop that Vince Clarke is known for.

The second pre-release single “White Rabbit” is already more similar to the typical musical style of the Erasure mastermind. Intelligent pop at its best, where hypnotising, shimmering electronic beats keep up the tempo with electric guitar sounds and thundering drums at the end. The visual backdrop this time is an animated film, with educational content about how we are “modern humans”. After the break since “The Neon” sound cosmos, fans of Vince Clarke’s music are eagerly awaiting their musical hero’s first solo LP.

„The joy for me has been the process of making the music… Everything else is a bonus.”

SL. When I heard and saw the track “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” for the first time, I was deeply touched by the experience. Although you mentioned to me in an earlier interview (around the time of the release of “2Square”) that you “still like to write “nobody understands me” songs”, you’ve waited so long to show this side of yourself. If there’s no pressure from the label, these songs might stay in the drawer. Is that really true? Did Daniel Miller persuade you to release these compositions as your first solo album on Mute?

Vince: The tracks I recorded during lockdown were never meant as an album. I was spending time in the studio just experimenting with sound and mood. I sent some of these ‘experiments’ to Daniel Miller, owner of Mute records and he suggested that perhaps this collection of soundscapes could be released as an album. Up to that point I was purely making the music for myself.

SL. As for the album title (“Songs Of Silence”), it wasn’t too hard to work out that it was some kind of homage to the legendary film score by Simon & Garfunkel. They were a big inspiration for you to compose music yourself, weren’t they? And what inspirations did you take this time? Or did everything follow your inner voice?

Vince: Yes, the title is a tiny homage to “The Sounds of Silence” and I’m a huge fan of Paul Simon. At the same time “Songs Of Silence” describe exactly what the album is about.

SL. The music of Vince Clarke lives without bombastic sound or glittery synth pop effects too, that was my first thought after listening to this album. What equipment did you use in your home studio this time?

Vince: For all the tracks I just used my Eurorack Modules. It was an opportunity to learn about the technology and really focus on the precise sounds I needed without being distracted by all the other sound sources in my studio.

SL. The opening track (“Cathedral”) already takes the listener out of the real world and frees them from the matrix. The whole thing has something religious and spiritual about it, in which the wholeness of the world is connected with one’s own existence. Such a process is necessary for mental health and for dealing with negative feelings. Was it the same for you?

Vince: I’m not religious but the word Cathedral suggested to me something huge and wondrous. I found the process of recording all these tracks to be cathartic and helpful to cope with the stresses I was experiencing at the time.

SL. One of my favourites is the track “Red Planet”. Relaxing ambient music with ethereal voices. I think a lot of fans – especially Depeche Mode fans – will say it’s their favourite track. Do you have your own favourite track from the album?

Vince: “Cathedral” is my favourite track and I’m also very fond of “Passage” which is all about a difficult/impossible journey.

SL. Not only “The Lamentations of Jeremiah”, but also “Scarper” has an acoustic touch – flamenco-like guitar. Once again a highlight of the album for me. Did you use samples here or did someone play the guitar live?

Vince: Reed Hays played cello on “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” and the guitar parts were played by my friend Steve Walsh.

SL. “Blackleg” is inspired by the traditional folk song “Blackleg Miner”. Your label mate, Frank Tovey, who died too soon, dedicated an entire album to workers’ songs in 1989 (“Tyranny And The Hired Hand”). Music and resistance was the main theme of this album. And what about you? What did you find inspiring about this folk song?

Vince: The song has a real raw edge to it. The lyrics are quite violent and paint a stark picture of the misery of the mining community during and after the Industrial Revolution. It was interesting to mix a very synthetic soundscape with something so organic.

SL. “Last Transmission” could also be related to the Erasure song “Turns The Love To Anger”, especially with the instrumental intro of its live version. It’s like a radio signal into space, with the hope that it will find a recipient with empathy. Do you still believe in the good in these difficult times?

Vince: No. I find it difficult to feel optimistic.

SL. You have always been known to be rather reluctant to appear in video clips. But for the first promo video, you had to stand alone in front of the camera. Where and how did the filming of “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” take place?

Vince: I wanted the video to convey a certain gravitas that reflected the sadness of “The Lamentations of Jeremiah”. It was shot in Brooklyn New York in a day.

SL. An animated video was made for “White Rabbit” – another favourite track of mine. You recently uploaded funny cartoons (“Günter Finn” and “Bacon And Eggs”) to the internet yourself. How did you find the cartoonist Daniele Arcuri for the second clip?

Vince: I saw his show reel on Fiverr and was instantly attracted to his irreverent and bonkers style of animation.

SL. At the special album release event in London the support band was the duo of Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller (called Sunroof), who play electro-improvisation music. Both of them have played a big role in your career. Was it natural for you to invite them to support you?

Vince: I was delighted that they agreed to do the show with us. I think the combination made for a really interesting evening.

SL. A month has passed since that concert in London. Your first solo album has received very good reviews, it’s also at the top of the album charts. Looking back on the whole process, what are your feelings now? Did you expect such positive feedback?

Vince: To be honest, I didn’t expect any feedback. The joy for me has been the process of making the music… Everything else is a bonus.

Reed Hays, the synthesiser specialist and master of the Buchla synthesiser, and long-time friend of Vince Clarke, also joins the conversation.

SL. Reed, you and Caroline were the first to sign a label contract with Vince’s Very Records. So far you’ve released two albums on his label and you then supported Erasure on their 2018 tour. Now you’ve played cello as a guest musician for Vince’s solo album. How did this invitation come about?

Reed: During the Reed & Caroline years Vince had me put together a couple instrumental tracks to promote Veryrecords on Soundcloud. One was called “Buchla and Cello” and the other was called “Cello and No Buchla”, so he was already familiar with my playing. While working on “Songs of Silence” he asked in his usual polite English manner, “Would you mind terribly if I sent you something, and maybe consider if it needs some sort of cello on it?” I purposely overplayed the part, thinking he would edit most of it out, but to my surprise he kept the whole thing!

SL. Were you there – as an expert advisor – for the entire creative period, or did you only hear the final result?

Reed: He played me some of the tracks while he was working on them, but I’m afraid I had no “expert advice” to give, because they already sounded amazing. I remember thinking only Vince Clarke could call something a “drone piece” but you’d still walk away from it with a catchy part in your head!

SL. Do you have your own favourite tracks from Vince’s solo album? If so, what are they and why?

Reed: Vince’s friend Steve does some great acoustic guitar work on “Scarper”. There’s a little blippy part on “Cathedral” that sounds Buchla-inspired, so of course it makes me smile every time I hear it. I love the sequencer in “White Rabbit” and of course his treatment of the “Blackleg Miner” song is wonderfully haunting.         

SL. On release day you shared the stage with Vince in London. What was your role at that concert?

Reed: In a very un-Vince reversal, nothing was rigidly synchronized. We were playing drones and triggering elements from the album by hand. The timing was totally based on the feel of the evening and the impressions of the visuals. And, of course, I had my cello with me. J

SL. For a while you had a joint radio show on a New York alternative radio station called “The Synthesizer Show”, which was very popular among fans of synthesiser music. Do you miss these radio shows? Do you talk to each other privately about what’s new in the genre?

Reed: It’s funny to think that for close to a decade “The Synthesizer Show” was an important anchor for both of us. It was a great way to break up the grinding tour schedule with Erasure, and during Covid it was the only activity either one of us had apart from family lockdown life. I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of “The Synthesizer Show” yet, but right now we have a couple ambient concerts to deal with!

SL. Do you currently have something in progress? Will there be another Reed & Caroline album?

Reed: I’ve been spending a lot of time with the Buchla 100, the earliest Buchla instrument. It’s also the rawest and most visceral of Mr. Buchla’s creations. I like to think of Reed & Caroline as a magical pre-Covid time capsule, but in a couple years her girls and my son will be out of high school, so never say never!

János Janurik

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.

(By our UK correspondent Simon Helm of Cold War Nightlife) This is a review of yesterday’s event at the London School of Economics where Vince Clarke did a debut solo show supported by Sunroof (comprising Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones).

Vince Clarke admits that he is a little nervous. The confession comes as he adjusts his set-up between songs. Normally, Andy Bell would step into these gaps, but this is not an Erasure show. It is a performance of “Songs of Silence”, Clarke’s album of songs based on drones. There is no need for concern: the sold-out crowd in a basement venue at the LSE is a friendly one (look – there is Neil Arthur from Blancmange!); and the spaces between tracks are exactly what the album’s title promises.

The event is billed as Vince Clarke’s first ever solo performance – but, of course, it is not. Clarke is a serial collaborator, who has spent his career working with other talents. Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly, Erasure, The Illustrious Company, VCMG – even when the prime mover, Clarke has sought out others to share the experience and the credits. Tonight, the limelight is shared with his friend, Reed Hays, and a cameo from the indomitable Sarah-Jane Dale, while Richard Evans from the Erasure Information Service tweaks the lighting. Clarke is more exposed than usual, but he is not alone.

The title of the new album is a reminder that Clarke is a life-long Simon & Garfunkel fan. It might also be a reference to the recent losses of his friends, Robert Marlowe and Andy Fletcher. The cover photo shows Clarke in stark relief, and the cruelty of time is written into the songs. Performed live, they lose none of their emotive content, and Hays’ cello underlines the sadness of “The Lamentations of Jermiah.” Even “Blackleg,” a version of the traditional miners’ song made popular in a more combative form by Steeleye Span and the PCA Band, is ominous and melancholy. Grainy footage of miners walking from a pit invokes something lost – like Test Dept without their fine-tuned debris.

The appearance of Sarah-Jane Dale for “Passage” adds a touch of glamour to the otherwise spectral drones and haunting rhythms. Clarke seems relieved to have the focus on another part of the stage, but he warms to the experience as the show continues. By the time of “Last Transmission,” he can’t hold back a full-on smile. The audience – most of whom have followed Clarke’s career for more than four decades – never doubted that it would be a special night. Clarke, it seems, has to pass through it to agree.

Support came from the Sunroof project of Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller. Facing each other across blinking panels of Eurorack modules, the two great producers embarked on a journey into improvised electronics that led down unpredictable tributaries of blips and webs of bloops. Sunroof’s shows are as unique as snowflakes and even cooler, as they harness the flow of electricity to weave magical textures. On a stage filled with Mute’s main superconductors, they played their roles as human Tesla coils with inspiration.

Pictures of Vince Clarke and Sunroof live sets

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Eugene Richards) Vince Clarke unveils his first solo album today, titled “Songs of Silence”. This ambient album, spanning 10 tracks, is now available in vinyl, CD, and digital formats through Mute. Clarke celebrates this release with his debut solo show tonight at the LSESU in London, with Sunroof (comprising Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones) as the opening act. Additionally, a Q&A session featuring Daniel Miller is scheduled at Rough Trade East on Sunday, November 19th.

After writing numerous hits for prominent bands like Erasure, Yazoo, and Depeche Mode, Clarke has finally ventured into a solo project. The album, recorded in his New York home studio, showcases photography and artwork by renowned Magnum photojournalist Eugene Richards. Originating as a lockdown diversion, Clarke delved into the possibilities of Eurorack, a modular synthesizer known for its expansive and engaging configurations. “The process was incredibly enjoyable, and it was solely for my own pleasure initially. I never contemplated others hearing it. The learning and creative journey in my studio was the highlight,” Vince reflects. “It was a surprise when Mute decided to release it.”

As previously mentioned, Clarke adhered to two self-imposed guidelines for this album: exclusively using Eurorack for sound production and constructing each track around a single note, maintaining a consistent key. Vince humorously notes, “No one in my family, not even the cat, showed much interest in my studio work, especially after hours of drone sounds.”

Vince Clarke video singles

Here are the two previously released videos from the album.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Paul Husband) Out on 17 February 2023 via the Parallel Series of Mute is the all new Sunroof (Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones) album, “Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 2”. The album will be out on limited edition white vinyl and digitally. The album artwork is a watercolour painting by Gareth.

The new album is a set of eight improvised modular pieces recorded at the duo’s respective home studios following the release of their debut, “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1” (2021). This new album came together in a relatively short space of time.

“I suppose this is the difficult second album,” jokes Gareth, “it took 40 years to make the first album and just nine months to create this one!” Daniel expands, “We got on a roll and didn’t really stop recording once we had that momentum.”

Here’s already the video for “January #2”, created by Sunroof. The video imagery depicts manipulated sequences triggered by software connected to the audio – a technique that they introduced into their live performance during a short run of live shows after their first album was released.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photos by Diane Zillmer & Gareth Jones) Out May 21 via the newly revived Parallel Series of Mute is the debut album by Sunroof (aka Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones), “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1”.

The new album, their first after four decades of friendship and collaboration, is a collection of eight improvised modular pieces recorded as live in various studio spaces across London. “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1” will be available on limited edition clear vinyl, CD, and digital platforms.

You can listen to “1.2 30.5.19” right below.

Check also the previously released “1.1-7.5.19”.

About Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones

Daniel Miller (founder of Mute) met Gareth Jones back when Miller asked Jones to work with him in late 1982 on what became Depeche Mode’s “Construction Time Again”. After the band had gone home for the day, they would stay to work on their own sessions. That practice continued and, by the mid-nineties, Sunroof had emerged as remix project reworking the likes of Can, MGMT, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler and Goldfrapp, and appeared on a compilation paying tribute to Neu!.

Back in 2019, Miller and Jones were heading to a György Ligeti concert at the Barbican and beforehand – as they often do when together in the same city – the pair spent a couple of hours improvising with modular systems. Unusually, this time they decided to record the session and, over a pre-concert meal, Gareth asked a question that seems logical after all these years: “Are we actually going to make a record together before we die?”

The following day, they set themselves some rules: “We decided to get together to do a bunch of improvisations,” explains Gareth. “We said we’d work in a number of different physical spaces but always together, in the same room. We were keen to do shorter pieces because we were both very inspired by Chris Carter and Martin Gore’s electronic music projects, where the pieces were very concise and compact.”

Key to their manifesto was a distinction between an improvisation and a jam session. “With modular systems, you can just go on and on forever and never actually complete anything. Sometimes that’s okay – part of the joy of a modular is that you can just keep going indefinitely. But with this we were keen to actually finish something, so setting that timeframe became a really important rule for us,” adds Daniel.

Tracklisting

This will be the tracklisting of the tracks on “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1”.

1. 1.1 – 7.5.19
2. 1.2 – 30.5.19
3. 1.3 – 30.5.19
4. 1.4 – 18.6.19
5. 1.5 – 9.7.19
6. 1.6 – 7.5.19
7. 1.7 – 30.5.19
8. 1.8 – 2.3.19

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Interview by János Janurik) About a year ago, I had the honour to ask Gareth Jones about his studio work on Erasure’s legendary “Wild!” album. Back then he mentioned his upcoming solo electronic music project. The long wait is finally over. The studio magician’s long-awaited debut album will be released on the 18th September. On that occasion, I asked him my questions again.

SL: In our last conversation last year, you summarized your memories of working on Erasure’s “Wild!” album. The Erasure guys have just released their new album “The Neon”. At the online launch party they also mentioned your name concerning a new remix to “Nerves Of Steel”. Could you please tell us a few words about this project?

GJ: Andy had an idea for an approach to a remix, and I was delighted to help him realise that idea. It is a mix full of respect. It’s an homage in fact. I love Andy and Vince. It’s family.  It’s always amazing to work with them, so I jumped at the chance to collaborate on this remix.  I also created a second ElectroGenetic remix, which is a different kind of thing. Darker perhaps. 

SL: When we run back over the past and take a look at your massive CV, we can see that you have been active in the music biz for four decades. You were the sound engineer on John Foxx’s cult debut album from 1980. Do you remember how you got your first studio job?

GJ: A musician and record producer called Mike Finesilver owned a small 8 track studio in Newington Green called Pathway. He generously gave me a chance to work in his studio. Thank you Mike! I’m forever grateful.

SL: Your name is closely linked to the Hansa Studios in Berlin where you experimented with recording atmospheres and the method of sampling. In 2018 the film “By The Wall” was screened, which narrated as a kind of documentation what had happened musically in the Hansa Studios between 1976 and 1990. What are your most noteworthy experiences about these legendary Hansa times?

GJ: So many great musicians from whom I learned so much. Diamanda Galás, Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Adrian Sherwood, Ideal, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Conny Plank, Roma Baran, Daniel Miller, Fad Gadget, Palais Schaumburg, Wire, Holger Hiller, Crime and the City Solution. These are my teachers.

SL: Through your work with Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, and also with Nick Cave you have made a name for yourself among music producers. But your portfolio also includes younger artists and bands like Apparat, Wovoka Gentle, Compact Disk Dummies, and Polly Scattergood. Do you receive these requests for joint work directly from the newer generation of musicians? I mean, do they know you and your previous work well? And vice versa, do you have your finger on the pulse of contemporary pop music? Could you name some new pop artists who you think are exciting enough?

GJ: I do get approached directly and many of the younger generation know some of the amazing musicians I have worked with in the past. I don’t have my finger on the pulse. I’m a drifter. A feather on the breath of God.

SL: When I got the news about your solo album, I immediately got interested. I belong to the generation that not only appreciates albums of their favourite bands, but also the work of those who work in the production background. So you’ve always been a hero of mine. As I said, I was curious how this personal work would sound from you. How long have you been working on this album? What was the main motivation behind its creation?

GJ: I made a commitment to myself to complete an album in the year 2019. This personal contract with myself helped me to cross the finish line. I’ve been working on the album for 50 years. The motivation was not to let myself down.

SL: To what extent was this work different from your previous studio works on the albums of different artists? How did it feel for the first time being your own boss and that having an opportunity to realize your own ideas without compromise?

GJ: I really enjoy working with collaborators. And getting hired to work for other artists. One of the great things about it is that the person you are working with always inspires you and pushes you forward. My ELECTROGENETIC project is a solo work, so I was stuck alone with myself (and my dreams and fantasies) and this meant that I had to inspire and encourage myself. Not always easy. I learnt a lot about the creative process, the joy and pain of commitment, and had to negotiate intensively with my inner critic in order to get anything done. Also, I acquired an even deeper understanding of the challenges that so many of my dear friends and colleagues have been through over the years in making their own music and art.

SL: The album title “Electrogenetic” can have several meanings. Through creation we, humans, are similar to God – at least for a certain period of time. I thought of something spiritual when I had a first look at the album cover. What about you? What were you trying to say with it? What`s behind the title and the cover?

GJ: With the title I am trying to express my feelings about the generative power of modular electronic synthesiser patches. Often, when working with modular synthesisers, we build a patch and it offers something beyond what we could imagine or expect. This certainly happens for me often and it is part of the deep power of the modular synth creative process. So in a sense the electronics give birth to the music, and I am a kind of midwife, a birth father to the process. I am trying to emphasise and echo this process in my choice of name: ELECTROGENETIC.

The ankh and the wedding ring in the photograph on the cover hang of a lamp over my desk where I write my journal and create music at home, so I see them every day and when I took a series of photographs of these powerful symbols I realised I had my album cover right there. The wedding ring was my father’s. The font that I use for ELECTROGENETIC is from an old fashion stencil that I found in the basement of my father-in-law’s house. I love the dirty analogue outlines of the font – it enhances and reflects my aesthetic and music.

SL: When I first listened to the album, I immediately got a “this is the kind of atmospheric electronic music with goose-skin effect I’ve long missed” thought. Everything is very poetic and the listener is immediately tied up. Where did your ideas, themes and musical expression come from to this work?

GJ: This is my first solo LP, so it probably contains images and feelings from my entire life, and it is inspired by everything I have experienced, so that would be a very long list! 

The album emerged because I made a commitment to myself to complete a project within that year. I found this to be a very powerful process, the contract with myself. I really wanted to honour that contract and this which drove me forwards to completion, to the finishing line. Also my mother and my mother-in-law had recently died (my father and father-in-law died some years before) so in some way everything changed. This experience distilled into the entire project. In some sense I hope it is a loving Requiem for my parents and all the ancestors, the four billion year chain of life that precedes me.

SL: It’s hard to choose “favourite tracks” from the album because it’s a coherent musical concept, but are there parts of the whole that are of very personal importance to you?

GJ: Every track on my LP connects to every other track. In some sense they’re all important to me, and in another sense it’s “all for nothing“ – supremely important, and completely insignificant at the same time. That’s my life. I hope some listeners will go the whole journey with me and listen to the LP from top to bottom, that is how it is designed to be listened to. And I hope you will enjoy the journey.

SL: The last thing I want to ask is about your collaboration with Daniel Miller under the pseudonym “Sunroof”. Your special performance of the Depeche Mode album “Construction Time Again” 10 years ago in Berlin attracted the attention of Depeche Mode fans. Just as popular are your joint remixes. Are there such works still to be expected from you? And what are your further plans for the near future?

GJ: “Sunroof” goes back many years now and I hope it will extend many years into the future. My musical relationship with Daniel is one of the great important relationships of my life and we have always enjoyed making music together, and I hope we always will. Watch this space!

For more information on ELECTROGENETIC, including Gareth’s notes on each track, visit the album website.

Track list: 

1. The Beginning 
2. Trinity 
3. Mercury 
4. Michigan 
5. Farewell 
6. Goonhilly 
7. Safe Travels 
8. I Believe 
9. Alone Together 

You can pre-order / buy the album on Bandcamp.

János Janurik

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.